Away wins for Middlesbrough being about as common as matches in which Danny Mills makes friends, what unexpected jollity there must have been on the journey back to Teesside. Boro's improvement after a particularly drab start to the campaign was cemented by a display that was as surprisingly bright as Southampton's was unexpectedly grey. With Kevin Phillips sent off in the 89th minute, it was an off-day all round for Saints.

For the third time in a week Boro won 1-0, the points here claimed by Malcolm Christie's virtuoso goal. This upturn in fortunes has awakened the pride in Steve McClaren's side, who defended diligently and attacked eagerly. The gulf in quality one might expect in a meeting of teams at opposite ends of the table turned out to be an illusion.

This had all the makings of a home banker, as the St Mary's PA announcer confirmed by enthusiastically booming off a list of reasons to be cheerful as the teams warmed up before kick-off: Saints were flying high, undefeated, yet to concede a goal here and could boast the Premiership's joint leading goalscorer in James Beattie.

If the intention was to intimidate and sink a few Teesside hearts, the plan failed. From the first minute Middlesbrough went for the jugular, with Boudewijn Zenden, Joseph-Desiré Job and Doriva each taking a pot at Paul Jones's goal inside the opening 10 minutes. Boro plainly intended to ambush one of the Premiership's most resolute defences.

A couple of minutes later the effervescent Christie did exactly that. Chasing to keep a long ball in play, he cantered on and dinked inside a couple of tentative challenges, before beating Jones with an angled drive. Boro could have been two-up five minutes later but for Jones's palm-stinging save from Jonathan Greening.

Southampton dominated possession, but lacked the wit to use it effectively. They looked predictable compared with the vibrancy that has coloured their game in recent weeks. Long, high balls and ineffective crosses were punted in the general direction of Beattie and Phillips. Easy pickings for the tall Mark Schwarzer.

Just after the half-hour, the goalkeeper's handling wasn't so secure, though, and with Chris Marsden bombing in - closely followed by Mills - the Southampton midfielder ended up aiming a punch at Boro's volatile right-back. It looked like frustration, but neither referee nor manager were having it. Marsden was booked and then substituted.

The closest Southampton came to parity before a few choice words at half-time from Gordon Strachan came a minute before the interval, Paul Telfer ramming a shot against a post via Schwarzer's outstretched hand.

The home side still found chances hard to come by after the break, though, as Boro's second-choice central defensive pairing of Chris Riggott and Colin Cooper excelled. Michael Svensson should have scored from close range but couldn't make a decent connection and Neil McCann bundled the ball against a post.

It became ill-tempered, with a spate of bookings fuelling the tension. It finished 4-3 to Southampton in yellow cards, and 1-0 in red after Phillips was dismissed in the last minute for sticking out a leg at Franck Queudrue.